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Posts: 2
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Registered: Dec 2003

posted 12-30-2003 09:01 PM         

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HELP WITH BLOATED LIONHEAD URGENTLY NEEDED PLS!! We have a beloved lionhead, Leo, who has been with us for over a year.. he's about 2.5" long and in a 10 gal tank w a same sized oranda and a shebunkin comet about 4", with biowheel filter, a few rocks and some anachris and they've all been swimmingly happy for over a yr.. about 2 weeks ago, Leo suddenly appeared one morning with a distended area just above his tail fin, on one side of his body.. and he was lying on his side.. when he tried to swim, he did so almost in a corkscrew fashion.. he's not lethargic and when food comes he gets very excited and swims around.. we had always fed high quality flake food, and our local aquarium shop owner said that it sounded like he had gulped too much air from the flake food floating and suggested we feed him only live black worms to make him pass the bubble and have the worms kind of give him the runs.. (we also noticed that for some reason, one of his pectoral fins was smaller than the other.. but this may have been the case all along) After over a week of worms 3x a day, Leo's still on his side and we are worried.. PLEASE CAN ANY ONE SUGGEST HELP?? We're going away next week for a week and want to get Leo healthy. THERE ARE NO VISIBLE SIGNS OF DISEASE.. I thought at first it might be swim bladder probs but - he's acting too healthy and swimming around to have internal or other bacteria probs.. PLEASE HELP SAVE LEO!!! Thank you for your time and help!! Leo's mom & dad..

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Posts: 74
From:New Zealand
Registered: Nov 2003

posted 12-30-2003 09:39 PM         

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sadly this may not be a sickness interbreed gold fish do suffer this talk to a pet shop thats good with fish or a simer thingy they might help

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Posts: 2
From:
Registered: Dec 2003

posted 12-31-2003 06:18 AM         

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Thanks for your help.. do you have experience personally w this ?? Our learned petshop guru says same as you that it's not uncommon for inbred fish like Lionheads.. very sad to watch.. he said black worms would give Leo the runs and we've been feeding them to him several times a day but no results to speak of .. do you know of anyone who is super-knowledgable that we might contact for help? Hate to sit by and watch him suffer.. if he was lethargic etc. that'd be one thing but he's so perky that we feel bad.. any solid and concrete ideas??

And - happy new year, btw!

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Posts: 1
From:East Brunswick, NJ, USA
Registered: Dec 2003

posted 12-31-2003 03:42 PM         

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Hi your gold fish Leo has swimmers bladder. I also have a gold fish which has it also. some people wrongly say it is from swallowing air when they eat from the top of the tank.. A friend told me to burp it.. sounds crazy. I took the fish out of the tank and patted it lightly on the bloated side. I then put him back.. I thought I had killed it. It wasn't moving for a while. Then it started to swim. It has been over a month now and I think he need burping for the new year.. he floats on his side like he is dead and then starts swimming. No promises but good luck and happy new year.. remember be gentle....

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Posts: 37
From:Smithtown, New York, United States
Registered: Dec 2003

posted 12-31-2003 04:51 PM         

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when u burped the fish it caused major stress and when fish have major stress they lose a hormone that stops them from inflating thats the reason he lies on his side my ideresant shark had the same problem i think thats whats wrong with both of ur fish there inflating i would recamend a good dose of a product called stress coat, do not disturb there tank exept when nessesary, and make sure they are not being harased by other fish

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Posts: 37
From:Smithtown, New York, United States
Registered: Dec 2003

posted 12-31-2003 05:00 PM         

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and i would hurry and get the stress coat as soon as possible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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